A new kind of ornament.

The preschool I work at is doing a holiday lunch with the staff in a few weeks.  I am excited to be a part of this great group of women and look forward to joining in the festivities.  During the lunch we are going to do an ornament exchange.  Even though I don't celebrate Christmas, I thought it would be fun to participate in the ornament exchange. 

Just one hitch.  I had never bought an ornament before.  I wasn't sure where you even get one that would be a little special, not too costly and something unique that my fellow Preschool co-worker would want to hang on her tree. 

The other day after an impromptu lunch with a few of the women I work with, I made an announcement I was about to go ornament shopping and asked if Target would be a good place.  Instantly I was given the inside scoop that even though Target is wonderful for many, many things, ornament shopping it is not ideal.  Given we were just doors away from "The Picket Fence" (a cute gift shop), it was recommended I head down there.  Tami said she was going to Giant and would walk part of the way with me.  Upon entering shop, I started walking around and noticed many, many different kinds of ornaments.  They weren't located all in one spot.  The ornaments were scattered about the store in different displays.  I liked so many of them.  What would make a good selection for the gift exchange?  Should it be ornate?  Silly?  Classic?  A cool shape?  How could I chose?  I was feeling overwhelmed and decided to call Tami on her cell phone and catch her before she left the shopping center.  Tami (who is quite wonderful by the way) said she would be right over.

I took Tami through the store and showed her some of my favorites ones I had seen.  When we got to this one basket, I picked up a colorful beaded design and told her this was a strong contender in my decision.  It looked like a very pretty wreath. 

Tami leaned in close to me and whispered, "That is a napkin ring."
WHAT?!?!? 
"No way," I replied to Tami. 
Tami then said, "Really.  How in the world would you be able to hang that from the tree?" 
"Easy", I said. "It has a big whole in the middle.  It just slides right on a branch."  

Um, no.  It was indeed a napkin ring.  Oops!

Obviously I am an amateur when it comes to celebrating Christmas and decorating a tree.  Now if there was a shoe exchange, that would be a different story! 

Just for the record, the ornament I did end up selecting is so awesome that Tami is hoping she gets it in the exchange. Clearly it was worth it for her to come back and rescue me or else she could've potentially been the one to end up with a napkin ring.  And not a whole set either, just one.